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Three brothers plead to Renville County thefts

OLIVIA — Three brothers entered guilty pleas on Thursday to charges for stealing four work pickup trucks, the equipment in them, crashing one of them, and damaging all of them by sawing off the catalytic converters.

Phillip Lee Harrison, 24, Billy Curtis Harrison, 21, and Charles Lee Harrison, 20, all originally of Annandale, separately entered guilty pleas in Renville County District Court in Olivia to two felony theft charges each. Phillip Harrison and Charles Harrison each also entered guilty pleas to a gross misdemeanor theft charge as well, according to Renville County Assistant Attorney Laurence Stratton.

Each of the defendants was originally charged with five felony theft charges and one felony charge of criminal damage to property.

As part of a plea agreement, the three defendants agreed to make restitution to cover all of the victims’ expenses not covered by insurance. Making the victims’ whole and a requirement that the defendants serve time are part of the agreement. The three are each expected to serve about one year in jail, serve probation terms, and perform community service work, according to Stratton.

Sentencing is expected in June. All three have been in custody since their arrest on Nov. 7. Charles Harrison was released to Wright County, where he is wanted on separate charges.

The complaints charge that the brothers stole a pickup truck from South Central Grain and Energy in Buffalo Lake and three others from K & S Millwrights in Buffalo Lake on Nov. 5. A search of the brothers’ Wright County residence on Nov. 7 led to the recovery of items reported stolen from the vehicles, including power hand tools, e-lectronic items, radios, spare tires, fire extinguishers and tie-down straps.

Restitution is still being calculated. An initial calculation showed that the defendants caused $16,832.75 worth of damage by crashing one of the trucks and sawing the catalytic converters off all four. The four trucks had a value of $37,000, and the stolen property was valued at $9,657.21, according to the preliminary estimate.